Page 173 - Anthology

Aircraft Action Report

Another girl and I would go to the landing strip and wave to the guys as they took off. We just wanted
them to know someone was thinking about them as they took off for a mission.

The USO had different entertainers come to the island for us. It was a lot of fun. Guys came from all over
for the show. We had paratroopers getting ready for a mission. We had a hard time with these types of
meetings. We had friends getting ready to leave on a mission and we were not sure we’d ever see them
again. The heart bothers you when you think of those meetings.

I was still on Leyte when I found out that the war was over; there was a big party with music, and dancing.
Shortly after that we were sent to Fort McKinley, Manila, Philippines.

After getting to Fort McKinley, a few of us girls decided to go someplace to have something to eat; we
thought oh, fried chicken, that sounds good; it was little bitty chicken legs that were as hard as leather. It
was not good chicken.

So, we had survived duty on New Guinea; Leyte and bad chicken in Manila. Let’s see: We had to wear
boots up to our knees; sometimes we’d get hung up and would have to have someone come pull us out;
we had to fight the mud, the storms and the mosquitos; sand lizards; the MPs did not do a good job of
protecting us; we witnessed the dead Japanese; we saw our boys going off on missions, not knowing if
they’d return; and of course, we saw MacArthur – that’s about my story. But, really; there were some fun
times and some moments of laughter.